On the journey

October 29, 2016

Maps and things

I love maps! Some are well worn – adventures I’ve had already; some are brand new – as yet unknown places to explore. The maps in the photo are ones I used in the Brecons, Wales. But I did not start the journey with the compass! It’s part of the story. I had parked at the reservoir, and knew the footpath up the steep slope of Twyn Du to Carn Pica. From the top you can look back down and see the reservoir. This bit of the walk I had done a previous year, and on that occasion returned the same way. But this time, I wanted to go back a different way. And I wanted to navigate without a map and rather rely on what I could see. From the plateau I could see the ridge I wanted to walk across to pick up the slope going down by the plantation, to arrive further along the reservoir. How hard could it be to pick up the trail? Well… There was no trail! There was just a plateau of bog and marsh – with some exquisite small plants growing – but bog and marsh none the less! I could see which direction to go in, and that was about all I had to go on. It was very, very windy up there on top, so I had my woolly hat and jacket hood on, and then I gingerly stepped on tufts of grass to avoid the deepest bogs. Amongst these was the compass! It had no owner – no one for miles around; so I adopted it! I was able to spot a trail of grass that was more trampled than the rest, so I figured that was the ‘path’, and I followed it til I saw the clear path on the ridge. And down, down, down I went. And of course, I got to the reservoir and walked back to where the car was parked. I was pleased though, to have tried something a bit different, something new, my own sense of place in the landscape.